Serenity
by kaleidoscopes.nonsensical
Summary: Pride & Prejudice with a modern twist. This story is set in both England and the United States. Rated M for language.


**Disclaimer: **I don't own Pride & Prejudice or anything relating to it. Well, nothing other than a copy of the novel.

**Authors Note:** I've never written a multiple chapter piece so please bare with me and, if you enjoy the story, cross you fingers that I actually manage to finish it!

**Chapter 1**

It's to be expected that a young woman living in a cramped downtown New York apartment will always be running late. Especially when said female lives with two other young women. And said women share one small bathroom. It's also to be expected that this can be cause for much frustration, impatience, annoyance, hilarity and embarrassment. And it is in this bathroom that we find three young women, all in various stages of dress.

Jane Bennet, the eldest Bennet twin has only just managed to get out the shower before the water went completely cold. She stands in front of the mirror dressed only in a silk robe, a recent gift from her mother. Who had, when she last saw Jane, told her she could have fainted dead away from the sight of her old, ratty terry cloth robe.

Next we find Charlotte Lucas in a half buttoned blouse and unzipped skirt. She was leaning in close to the bathroom mirror, putting the finishing touches on her make up. Of course Jane had to sneeze just as she was bringing mascara to her lashes. The startling noise caused Charlotte to smudge the dark make up just above her eye.

And then there was Elizabeth Bennet, more fondly called Lizzy. She was running back and forth from her bedroom, the kitchen and the bathroom. Currently she could be heard cursing in the kitchen as she tried not to burn her blueberry pancakes. Her long brown hair was still damp from her shower and beginning to dry in waves. She was running around in some rather skimpy, black lace lingerie, courtesy of her over gifting, and rather intruding mother. After some serious snooping through all of Lizzy's clothing, it was decided that Lizzy daughter was in dire need of some more feminine underclothes. Or something along those lines.

"Put some clothes on you whore!" called Charlotte with a laugh as she caught sight of Lizzy dashing toward her bedroom. Lizzy turned back and scrunched her nose before almost colliding with her closet door. She dug through her armoire and pulled out a black lace slip, also courtesy of her mother. She tugged it over her head before racing out of her room again.

"Better?" she asked as she passed Charlotte again.

"Hardly," she replied. "Now you look like an overeager newlywed on your honeymoon."

"Exactly what I was going for," said Lizzy with a laugh and toss of her head. "Shit," she said with a sniff of the air, "My pancakes are burning."

"This is why we don't let you cook us breakfast." laughed Charlotte with a glance toward Jane, who was focused on applying her eyeliner just so.

"You realize it's now 8: 30 Lizzy, don't you?" said Jane, straightening back up.

"Well fuck," replied Lizzy as she raced to the kitchen to throw out her pancakes. "This is why I shouldn't cook breakfast," she muttered scornfully.

By 8: 55 all three girls had managed to finish getting dressed, put on their make up and fix their hair.

"It's a good thing your shop is right below the apartment Lizzy," remarked Jane as they snuck in through the back to avoid the growing crowd.

Today was the day Lizzy opened her new boutique, Serenity. She owned another one, of the same name, back in London. It was currently being managed by her father, who had helped her finance the business. She'd been living in New York for the last three months getting everything in the shop set up and ready for its grand opening. She'd only be in New York for a couple more weeks now. Once she left, Charlotte would be managing the store for her. And Jane would be around to help as well.

All three of them had moved to New York three months ago. They had managed to find a very "whimsical", as Lizzy put it, looking shop. It had huge bay windows that allowed in a lot of light and the inside was made from brick painted white. It even had very antique looking chandeliers for light fixtures. Lizzy fell in love with it the second she saw it. And as luck would have it, the apartment above the whimsical looking shop was being sold with the building.

The apartment had many good qualities, and really only one bad one. The good being it had three bedrooms, a kitchen, a living room and all hardwood floors. The bad being the aforementioned single bathroom. Now three bedrooms, a kitchen and a living room in New York, that's a lot of space. But three girls living together, all of them artists in their own ways, makes for very cluttered, cramped living.

Jane makes a living as a successful children's author, and she is certainly the neatest of the three women. Though she does love to bake, and has a gift for it as well, unlike poor Lizzy. And this love of baking often leads to an overly well stocked kitchen, in the sense of baking utensils, as well as baked goods.

Charlotte loves to draw and paint in her spare time, as evidenced by the many paintings hanging though out the apartment. Originally she was using her bedroom as her studio, but when she could no longer get to her bed or closet, she had to relocate. She then chose the living room, where she felt there was better light anyway. Of course you could see why that would be a problem. And so she now does her painting in a little studio, with great light, in Lizzy's shop down below.

And Lizzy of course, is a small business owner of two great shops in which she sells very vintage looking clothing, jewelry, handbags and even furniture. She travels a lot to find the pieces she's looking for and no two items are ever the same. She even sells some of Charlotte's art, which has been selling very well in London. All of the clothing, jewelry and handbags are handcrafted by locals who are willing to sell to their items to Lizzy, who turns around and sells them in her store. Everything in the store is handpicked by Lizzy. And in what little spare time Lizzy has, she spends it either playing the piano in the living room, or out and about the streets of New York with her camera. Lizzy sells her own photographs in her shops as well. Always film, never digital. And black and white before color. That was her philosophy.

Of course all of these talents lead to a very well decorated and cluttered apartment. But that was how they liked it.


End file.
